Birdwatching
Trip report to the Andes, central and eastern Venezuela from Joe Klaiber
Bird report from my excursion to the Andean foothills, Henry Pittier national park in Aragua, The Palmichal area of Carabobo, Paria at state Sucre and the eastern Venezuela areas of Sierra de Imataca, Sierra de Lema, la Grand Sabana and El Pauji.
In 3 weeks i counted 407 species.
At Sierra de Imataca my friend Thore Nornberg joined the excursion for 4 days and at Sierra de Lema and El Pauji my wife Alejandra companied me.
I left Merida Saturday afternoon and drove all the way to our guesthouse Posada Casa Vieja Altamira in Altamira in the Andean foothills. This afternoon I went to see the LEKS of White bearded Manakin, Striped Manakin and Golden headed Manakin. Also I recorded again some antbirds like White browed Antbird, Dusky Antbird and White bellied Antbird. 30 minutes away from our Posada in Altamira is also the Lek from the Andean Cock of the Rock, but on this trip I did not stop there.
Next morning I drove to my friend Bernadus van der Hurk at Posada el Limon 5 minutes away from the Henri Pittier nationalpark. I started to bird the road via Ocumare. At Rancho Grande i saw collared Trogon and White tipped Quetzal besides lots of Tanagers, Flycatcher and different Hummers. In the later hours i recorded Schwartz and Short Tailed Antthrush. Both came out after playback. Also I recorded Plain backed Antpitta but I did not get a sight on it. Then i birded all the way down to Ocumare. Besides the river I saw Wire tailed Manakin and Lance tailed Manakin,. Cocoa Woodcreeper, and Great Antshrike.
In the afternoon i drove back to Maracay and birded on the road and recorded Nightingale Wren and a Grey throated Leaftosser. At night I arrived again at Posada Limon.
The next morning I birded the road to Choroni. Here I saw Ornate Hawk Eagle, Solitary Eagle and lots of mixed species flocks.
In the afternoon I drove to Carabobo and stayed at Casa Maria from Norbert and Gaby Flauger for 3 nights. The lodge is beautiful and i birded just in the garden until night. Norbert and me heard different frog Species and the Black and White Owl. 10 minutes from Casa Maria is Palmichal forest reserve. This is like Henry Pittier but without traffic. Gaby Flauger and me had excellent views at Handsome Fruiteater and Olive sided Flycatcher through my scope . Norbert took me with his Unimog truck also to other could forest areas where I recorded Rufous Spinetail, Scale crested Pygmy Tyrant and others.
From the central mountains i drove to Cumana where I stayed the night.
Next morning at 4 am I drove to the Golf of Paria one hour after Cumana. There I took a boat to the lagoon at the golf and birded the hole day walking bare foot with my scope, binocs and recording equipment. I saw Wilson Plover, Common Snipe, Short billed Dowitcher, Sanderling, Least Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, Solitary Sandpiper, Willet, Whimbrel, Greater and Lesser Yellowlegs, Pied Plover, groups of Scarlet Ibis, Laughing Gull, Black Skimmer, Large billed Tern and others. The northern immigrants were there already.
Interesting was also to bird the dry, thorny bushes between the mangroves. Some highlights were Buffy Hummingbird, Scrub Greenlet, Straight billed Woodcreeper, White fringed Antwren, Black crested and Barred Antshrike and the Vermillion Cardenal.
Early I drove to Vuelta Larga Lodge. After arrival I went directly to the LEK of the endemic Crimson hooded Manakin. I stayed here almost 2 hours and had excellent sightings and recordings of this endemic. At the Finca I also saw Silvered Antbird, Little Cockoo and Bright rumped Atilla beside lots of other species.
Next day Daniel Muller and me went the hole day to Cerro Humo which is the highest mountain of the area. We saw some of the Paria endemics like Paria Whitestart, Paria Flowerpiercer and White tailed Sabrewing. Pectoral Sparrow and Slate crowned Antpitta are common at Cerro del Humo.
Interesting was the long tailed Antbird, the Handsome Fruiteater. The Fruiterters of Paria have a brighter orange chest as the ones from Henry Pittier and Palmichal. Also is it interesting, that the call of the Black faced Antthrush is different as the calls we know from Peru, Ecuador, and Centrel and western Venezuela.
Next morning I took a boat to the Turuepano National Park. In the mangroves Jet Antbird and Silvered Antbird responded to playback. After 2 hours on the open areas I saw three time the Rufous Crab Hawk at different areas. My friend Volker joined me at this day.
From Paria, I drove about 7 hours down to El Palmar and Rio Grande. Thore Nornberg joined me at Puerto Ordaz. We took the ferry over the Orinoco river and arrived 2 hours later at the guesthouse Parador Turistico Taguapire. The Lodging was extremely basic. BUT The owners were very friendly and they served breakfast already at 4 am, so the service was good.
We drove one hour to the area where there was the nest of the Harpy Eagle. On the hike to the forest on the way to the nest was we saw flocks of Red lored Amazon, Dusky Parrot, Orange checked Parrots and 5 different species of Toucans. At the nest we had to wait 3 hours until we saw the massive male arriving with pray. This was the highlight of the day.
The rest of the day and the next 2 days we birded the roads and trails inside the forest reserve at Rio Grande. Interesting was, that the saw mill was not active anymore. Hopefully it will stay like this. In the forest reserve we had on the main roads excellent flocks for over 2 hours. It was the biggest flock I have ever seen. The flock included Racket tailed Coquette, Paradise Jacamar, Yellow billed Jacamar, Russet throated Puffbird, Black Spotted Barbet, Waved Woodpecker, Long tailed Woodcreeper, Buff throated Foliage Gleaner, Grey Antbird, Orange bellied and Golden headed Manakin, Cinnamon Atilla, Spangled Cotinga, Green- Purple- and Short billed Honeycreeper, Yellow backed- Paradise- Spotted- and Opal rumped Tanager. Turquoise – blue backed – Flame Crested Tanager and the beautiful Fulvous Shrike Tanager, Golden sided Euphonia and Yellow Green Grosbeak.
Later when it got quiet we went into the forest to a trail system. The trails are done by the saw company. We looked for Army Ants and flocks of Antbirds followed them. This produced almost 20 species of antbirds, including, White plumed Antbird, Scale backed Antbird and Rufous throated Antbird.
Later when there were almost no more activity in the forest I called with my playback equipment the beautiful Ferruginous backed Antbird and my highlight on that excursion the Musican Wren. Their songs are so lovely. I could listen for hours to them. I made lots af different recordings. Listen to them in my website www.birds-venezuela.de Last time I saw this bird this year was in Tambopata Peru. I just can t get enough from the Musican Wren and their musical songs.
We saw 15 species of raptors including Black faced Hawk, White Hawk, Black and White Hawk Eagle, Harpy Eagle …
My next destionation was the mining town Las Claritas at km 85. My wife Alejandra companied me. we stayed at Barquilla de Fresa from Henry Cleve. In the afternoon we went a side trail to see the Capuchinbirds at the LEK. First we went inside of the forest to see them. Later when we were birding the road we saw them again, and even much better, when they were feeding at cecropia trees. Besides the Capuchinbird we saw lots of Toucans, Aracaries, Parrots, Red and Green Macaw and Paradise Tanager, etc…
The next days we just birded the Escalera area of Sierra de Lema.
At km 111 we saw at different places males and females from the Guianan Cock of the Rock. What an impressive bird. We saw them mainly on fruiting trees, not at the LEK. Other amazing species were the , Peacock Coquette, Straight billed Hermit, Rupurumi Hermit, Sharpbill, Flutist Wren, Streak backed Antshrike and Fulvous Shrike Tanager.
The other days we birded the higher areas at la escalera. At the antenna we saw White Bellbird. They were easy to see !! There are some bushes and side trails. At the flowering bushes we saw lots of hummingbirds like, Fork tailed Woodnymph, Velvet browed Brilliant, Blue fronted Lancebill, Brown and Sparkling Violetear, Grey breasted Sabrewing and others. At the trail were lots of the endemics like Greater Flowerpiercer, Tepui Whitestart, Olive backed Tanager and Rufous breasted Sabrewing.
After the Alcabala at km 122 there is a small road to the right. In this forest we saw the endemics Red Banded Fruiteater and Rudy Tody Flycatcher.
The km 130 and 132 are the Leks from the amazing endemic Scarlet horned Manakin. I recorded them and they came out after playback immediately.
Arriving to the end of la Escalera and the beginning of la Grand Sabana we called Roraiman Antwren and saw Brown Solitair and Rose collared Phia.
Between km 118 and km 128 several times we saw flocks of the endemic Fiery shouldered Parakeet and Golden tufted Mountain Crackle. Both are not very noisy !!!
The last day at las Claritas and Sierra de Lema we just enjoyed the hummingbird feeders at Barquilla de Fresa. Henry Cleve has 6 feeders there and the highlight is the lovely Crimson Topaz. Males and females are easy to see at the feeders. Other highlights are fork tailed Woodnymph, Black throated Mango, Long billed Startthroat, White necked Jacobin, Black eared Fairy (at km 111 we saw one on a nest), Rufous and Long tailed Hermit. In the garden we saw Tanagers, Euphonias and Ferruginous Pygmy Owl.
Then we drove to la Grand Sabana and stoped at lots of waterfalls like Salto Pacheco, Salto Kama and Quebrada de Jaspe. Some of birds in the Savanna were Brown Jacamar, White tailed Hawk and Black faced Tanager.
We stayed at the new Lodge Los Pinos, which is the most comfortable place to stay in Santa Elena, with swimming pool, mini bar in the rooms and excellent food. The owners Eric and Yaritza help with excellent information about the area.
The next morning we drove the way to el Pauji and birded the rainforest at the road. This was the area for Pompadour and Spangled Cotingas.
At 11 am we crossed the border and went to Brasil. First we had lunch al la Linea. After we went the way to Boa Vista, where you need a special permit for your vehicle. The vegetation was all tropical rainforest and we saw only a few birds because we had heavy rain.
Next morning we started to drive 3 days back to Merida to our Posada Casa Vieja Merida. www.casa-vieja-merida.com
I have birded all this areas before, but it was an excellent experience to be there again. I visited lots of friends in the country and recorded new bird calls and songs. See some of my recorded bird songs at my website www.birds-venezuela.de
